Page 48 of Shattered Fate

“Okay. What time?”

“About five if we want time to eat before a nine o’clock showing. I won’t get you home until after midnight. Is that too late?”

I’ll have time to take a nap, something I sometimes do if my therapy sessions are especially exhausting. “No. It’s perfect.”

“Good. I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

He pauses, and I still, thinking he’s looking for a way to rescind the invitation. I know I’m going to be work, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I am what I am. I’m trying oh so hard not to be, but it’s going to be a journey, a lengthy one at that, and I’ve only taken the first step on the path.

“Zarah?”

“Yes?” I hold my breath.

“I miss you. I’m glad you said yes.”

I tilt the phone away from my mouth so he can’t hear the relieved sigh that shudders out of me. “Me, too.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Douglas drops me off at the house, and I look for Stella. She’s in the kitchen eating chips and looking at social media on her phone.

“Gage asked me out on a date!” I announce, grabbing her shoulders.

She squeezes my wrists. “That’s great! What are you going to wear?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t gotten that far.”

“Let’s go see.”

We run up the stairs, giggling all the way to my room, like the young women we didn’t get to be.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Gage

Ishould have let her meet me in the city. Picking her up and driving her back will cost me four hours on the road, but somehow, whether she wants it to or not, it’s going to feel like a real date and Zane is going to want to size me up before I bring his sister anywhere. He seemed friendly enough at dinner the other night, but I can’t forget who I am and I only know Zarah because of it.

There’s no way we would have bumped into each other, not like Zane and Stella might have working in the same building. Might have taken longer had Zarah not gone on a tour of their company, but their chances of meeting in the lobby were higher than me ever meeting Zarah Maddox, billionaire heiress. Not with the kind of life I live.

I’ve always been a firm believer in things happening for a reason, Max’s death one of them. I’m not selfish enough to think his death was meant to pave my way into Zarah’s life. I hope to God his murder will offer more to the people on this earth than that. But I’ve never been one to turn down an opportunity,either, and I can’t let guilt keep me from pursuing her. She’s become a constant whisper in the back of my mind, not always pleasant, a reminder that I should be doing more.

Zane called me off and I left it at that, but I’m beginning to question that decision. I still haven’t gone through all of Max’s things in his lockbox, and I haven’t had time to watch any of the CDs. I don’t know how he got his hands on them either, and if I know Max (and I don’t but that’s a different conversation), someone isn’t going to like that I have them in my possession. You might think I’m dumb for not checking them out the second I got home, but the secrets have kept for a while now. The world isn’t going to explode because I want an evening with Zarah.

Nothing will happen to her while I’m around.

I hit a bump, and a bouquet of red roses laying on the bench crinkles in the cellophane. It’s been a long time since I bought a woman flowers, and contrary to popular belief, Sierra isn’t my girlfriend. I haven’t bought her flowers. Ever.

The meagre offering seems silly now, a ten-dollar bouquet for a billion-dollar heiress. What would a rich man buy a woman like her on their first date? Jewelry? Seems a little presumptuous, if you ask me. Especially on a first date. All I know about Zarah on that front is that she doesn’t wear any. If I bought her a necklace or something, she’d put it in a drawer and forget about it. At least the flowers stand a chance of Lucille putting them in a vase. Maybe Zarah will keep them in her room and think of me when she wakes up.

Nowthat’spresumptuous.

The house is lit up brighter than a firecracker, a fireball in the middle of a dark field. They put up some Christmas lights, too, and a few trees in their yard shine like fairy dust. I wonder whose idea that was. Probably Stella’s. She seems like the type to enjoy that kind of thing. Zane’s too busy running his company and protecting Zarah and Stella to give a fuck about lights. Zarah’stoo preoccupied wading through the muck, I bet, to care about anything like that. I can easily see Stella acting as the glue that holds that family together.

I park and kill the engine. I’ve met parents before, though not this kind. Zane will be tougher than any father, but he’s trying to right a lot of wrongs. Unfortunately, I’ll be paying for that. It’s not enough to scare me and I ring the doorbell.

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